Artists' Artists: Virginia Cuppaidge
Virginia Cuppaidge, Lyon, 1972, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, gift of the artist 2012 © Virginia Cuppaidge
Artist VIRGINIA CUPPAIDGE discusses works of art from the national collection that inspire, move or intrigue her.
John Firth-Smith, Looking at the harbour through the smoke from my pipe, 1966, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, Purchased 1974. Courtesy of the artist and Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney.
John Firth-Smith, Around the bay, 1975, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, gift of the Philip Morris Arts Grant 1982 Courtesy of the artist and Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
JOHN FIRTH-SMITH
Australia, born 1943
Around the bay 1975 and Looking at the harbour through the smoke from my pipe 1966
I first met John Firth-Smith in the 1960s, around the time his studio was in Lavender Bay in Sydney. I immediately related to his paintings, which are so evocative of his lifestyle on the ocean and sailing. They are virtually abstract and his colour sense is magnificent.
Ellsworth Kelly, Orange Curve, 1964-65, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, purchased 1977 © Ellsworth Kelly
ELLSWORTH KELLY
United States of America, 1923–2015
Orange Curve 1964–65
I lived in New York for 45 years; in fact, the National Gallery’s five large works of mine from the Geometrics series were painted in Clement Meadmore’s pantry-turned-studio in New York in the early 1970s. During my time in New York I saw numerous Ellsworth Kelly exhibitions. He managed to put one or two colours on a white canvas and keep the negative and positive space equally compelling. When I visited a retrospective of his work in Philadelphia and saw his early work of plants I could see the evolution of his work into complete abstraction. Somehow he made the whole surface vibrate. I’ve chosen Orange Curve for its audacious qualities and subtlety.
Claude Monet, Nymphéas [Waterlilies], c.1914–17, purchased 1979
CLAUDE MONET
France, 1840–1926
Nymphéas (Waterlilies) c 1914–17
I love Monet’s waterlily paintings. Monet’s free use of colour comes close to abstraction. I have spent many an hour viewing this series of paintings in both the National Gallery and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Janet Dawson, Study for lighthouse, 1968, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, gift of the artist 2015 © Janet Dawson/Copyright Agency
JANET DAWSON
Australia, born 1935
Study for Lighthouse 1968
The first time I saw an exhibition of Janet Dawson’s abstract paintings at Gallery A in Sydney in the 1960s, I was so impressed I asked the director Max Hutchinson if he could introduce me to her. I had never seen work so compelling and vibrant with life. Janet became a friend. After a time, she said she had met the man she planned to marry. Coincidentally, her husband-to-be, the actor and playwright Michael Boddy, lived next door to me in Woollahra and we were already friends.
This story was first published in The Annual 2023.
